General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $65.69.

Several analysts recently weighed in on GIS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $59.09 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.97 and a 200-day moving average of $64.74. General Mills has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.75%.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.